In my upcoming book, ‘Seasons of Real Estate’ I talk about the various tactics required in the four seasons of buyer demand/seller demand and supply etc.
So, in a boom market, any half-awake agent can look like a genius.
You list the home, put it online, whack it on social, open twice… and buyers fight over it.
But when the market shifts into autumn and winter – when buyer numbers drop, days on market blow out and listings start going stale – the real agents are exposed.
This is where you either:
- lose the listing
- get replaced by a sharper competitor
- or finally learn how to play the autumn game properly.
This post is a deep dive into exactly that.
1. First Truth: Your Vendor Must Feel You’re “Bleeding” for Them
In a slower market, most vendors default to one belief:
“Our agent isn’t doing enough.”
It doesn’t matter how many hours you’re working behind the scenes.
If they don’t see it, it doesn’t exist in their mind.
That’s why one of the most powerful autumn strategies is:
✅ Daily (or regular) WhatsApp vendor updates
Not long essays. Not 20-minute calls that chew your day.
Just 20–60 second voice notes that:
- tell them what you’ve done
- tell them what you’re doing next
- show them you’re thinking about their sale
Example morning message:
“Hey guys, just checking in quickly.
Today I’m focusing on inviting more neighbours and active buyers to Saturday’s open. I’ve already dropped 40 invites this week and I’ll be doing another 30–40 today to get more fresh eyes on your place.
I’ll update you tonight with how we go. Talk soon.”
Example end-of-day message:
“Just wrapping up for the day.
Today I delivered invites to 80 homeowners around you – a mix of people who’ve recently sold or are about to be cashed-up buyers. That’s all done.
Tomorrow I’ll be following up the previous open-home attendees and a few hot buyer enquiries to see who’s ready for a second look. I’ll keep you posted.”
You can send those at 4–6am if you’re up early – it has the beautiful side-effect of creating the impression:
“Wow, this agent is up at stupid-o’clock working for us.”
Are you really working that entire time? Of course not.
But you’re showing your working, like that annoying maths teacher always wanted.
And that’s the key:
By the time you need to have a tough “price and strategy” conversation, your vendors feel you’ve done everything humanly possible.
2. The 4Ps Framework: Why the Property Really Hasn’t Sold
Here’s a simple framework you can use in:
- listing presentations
- strategy review meetings
- expired listing appointments
I call it the 4 Ps:
- Proximity / Position (Location) – where it is
- Price – how it’s positioned financially
- Presentation – how it looks (online and in person)
- Promotion – how many eyeballs are seeing it
Sometimes I swap “proximity” for “agent skill” when I’m talking about a previous agent.
How to explain it to a vendor
“There are really only four reasons a property hasn’t sold:
Price, presentation, promotion or position.
We can’t change the position – where it sits on the map – so we ignore that one.
That leaves us with three levers to pull: price, presentation and promotion.
Let’s walk through each one and see what needs to change.”
Then:
- If the photos and styling are decent → presentation is probably fine.
- If hardly anyone is seeing it online or at opens → promotion is broken.
- If you’re getting some interest but no offers, or silly low offers → price (and strategy) need work.
This framework becomes the backbone of:
- your defensive strategy (when you want to keep the listing and adjust price/marketing)
- your offensive strategy (when you’re going after a competitor’s expired listing)
3. The Strategy Review Meeting: Don’t Wait 8 Weeks
Most agents:
- list the property
- run a few opens
- cross their fingers for 6–8 weeks
- then awkwardly ask to drop the price when everyone’s already frustrated
In an autumn/winter market, that’s suicide.
Instead, you want a pre-framed strategy review meeting booked in from day one.
How to set it up at the listing presentation
“Mr & Mrs Seller, here’s how we run our campaigns in this market.
We’ll go live, run two opens, and then on Tuesday night after the second open we’ll sit down together for a strategy review meeting.
If we’ve sold it before then – perfect, we cancel that meeting.
But if we haven’t, we’re going to treat that meeting like a ‘pit stop’ in a race.
We’ll look at the data: how many buyers came, what feedback we got, what the online engagement was – and then we’ll adjust pricing, marketing or presentation accordingly.
That way, we’re not guessing – we’re using data to make smart moves. Does that sound fair?”
Now when market conditions are autumn-like (low buyer numbers, long days on market), this meeting is expected, not a surprise.
The sweet-spot numbers
You can customise this, but for example:
- Ideal buyers per open: 7–15 groups
- If you’re seeing 2–3 groups → the “bait” (price/positioning) is wrong
- If you’re seeing 30 groups → you’re probably too cheap and should increase expectation or adjust the pricing structure upwards
You explain that to the vendor before you need it.
Then when the numbers come in, you’re simply saying:
“Remember when we spoke about using data to guide our decisions? Here’s what the data says…”
4. Autumn Pricing: Bait vs Realistic Market Value
One of the most powerful parts of your narrative is explaining “bait pricing” (without doing anything illegal or unethical).
The simple version:
- The advertised price is bait to get the right buyers to inspect.
- If the bait is too low → you get “sharks everywhere” (heaps of buyers, lots of low offers).
- If the bait is too high → almost nobody comes.
With stale listings, you often need to reset the bait.
You can explain it like this:
“At the moment, your property is positioned at the top of the price range, which means you’re being compared to newer, flashier, more modern homes.
What we want is for buyers to say:
‘This is the nicest thing we’ve seen in this price range.’
To do that, we adjust the advertised price so someone looking slightly below your ideal price feels like they’re getting an upgrade and stretches up.
That doesn’t mean you’ll sell at the lower figure – but it gets you more eyeballs, more emotional buyers and more offers to work with.”
You can even walk them through an example:
- “Fire-sale investor price” (ridiculously low – where you’d buy it yourself)
- “Savvy investor price” (where it becomes cashflow positive)
- “Emotional owner-occupier price” (what you’re aiming for with the right marketing and exposure)
Somewhere between their fantasy price and your “I’d buy it at that number” sits reality.
5. Using These Principles to Win Expired Listings
Everything above isn’t just about keeping your current listing.
It’s also about stealing the other guy’s when they give up.
When you see:
- 60, 90, 120+ days on market
- poor social media
- weak promotion
- zero energy from the existing agent
…you can walk in and run the exact same 4Ps + strategy review narrative.
Example conversation:
“So tell me what’s happened so far?”
(Let them vent.)“There are really only four reasons this hasn’t sold: price, presentation, promotion and agent skill.
Your photos are actually fine – so presentation isn’t the issue.
But your online promotion and pricing strategy haven’t created enough buyer activity, and frankly, the strategy hasn’t adapted as the weeks rolled on.
Here’s how we do it differently…”
Then you outline:
- Daily/regular WhatsApp updates
- Pre-framed strategy review meetings
- Proper marketing exposure
- Autumn pricing strategy
You look like the proactive problem-solver, not just “another agent”.
6. The Secret Weapon: Video Testimonials and Ratification
One little side story from the transcript that most agents will miss… but you shouldn’t.
When a past client publicly says something amazing about you – especially on video – it doesn’t just help your marketing.
It locks in their own belief that you’re great.
That psychological principle is called ratification.
Once they’ve:
- looked into a camera
- said your name
- and publicly declared you “bloody fantastic”
…it becomes very hard (unconsciously) for them to later tell another person you’re terrible.
So while you’re rescuing stale listings and doing autumn strategies:
- Capture video testimonials from those “shortbread lady” style raving fans.
- Ask them a few simple questions about what was different working with you.
- Use that content in your listing presentations and on your website.
It boosts your conversion… and it cements your reputation in their mind.
7. Action Checklist: What to Implement This Week
To make this practical, here’s your implementation cheat sheet:
- Start daily / twice-weekly WhatsApp updates
- 20–60 sec voice notes
- Morning “here’s what I’m doing today”
- Evening “here’s what I did today”
- Install the 4Ps framework (price, presentation, promotion, position/skill)
- Add it to your listing presentation
- Turn it into a simple graphic or one-pager
- Use it in strategy review meetings and expired listings
- Book strategy review meetings from day one
- After the second open
- Use buyer numbers and engagement data, not guesswork
- Adjust bait pricing intelligently
- Understand fire-sale vs investor vs emotional buyer price
- Use pricing as a lever to get more eyeballs, not as a random guess
- Go hunting for expired listings
- Use the 4Ps and autumn narrative to diagnose what went wrong
- Show up as the proactive, data-driven alternative
- Get at least one video testimonial this month
- Start with your most grateful past client
- Capture their story on camera
- Use it everywhere
Autumn and winter markets don’t kill great agents.
They expose average ones – and create massive opportunity for the ones who know what they’re doing.
FAQ: Quick Answers AI and Google Love
You can add this as an FAQ section at the bottom (great for snippets).
Q: What are the 4 Ps of selling a property?
A: Price, presentation, promotion and position (or proximity). In practice, you focus on the three you can control: price, presentation and promotion.
Q: When should I have a strategy review meeting with my seller?
A: In a slower market, book it at the listing presentation for the Tuesday after the second open. Use the actual buyer numbers and engagement data to guide price and marketing changes.
Q: How often should I update vendors on a stale listing?
A: At least twice a week, ideally with short WhatsApp voice notes outlining what you’ve done and what you’re doing next. The goal is for them to feel you’re actively working for them.
Q: How do I win expired listings from other agents?
A: Use the 4Ps framework to diagnose what went wrong (usually poor promotion and weak strategy), then present your proactive system: daily communication, scheduled strategy reviews and a smarter pricing and marketing plan.
For a free training box set, the stuff my former students paid a fortune for, visit www.RealEstateFreeGift.com.au
